still alive

This is summer right? Lazy days, beaches and bathing? Huh, wouldn't have noticed.

If you haven't caught up with the latest (and really, how would you be able to with me not writing it up here?), I've started a stitching blog over at http://stitchalicious.com. It's still early days, but I'm more likely to be found over there than here now. Of course there's also the appropriate twitter (http://www.twitter.com/stitchalicious) and I still use the aliented twitter account to. Far more thn I actually get around to any long-winded, more than 140-character updates at least.

So far summer has been packed out with commitments. We've been here, there and everywhere almost every weekend. Last weekend was a 36 hour trip to the UK for the wedding of DrH's cousin - a fly in and out so fast that all I managed to get was an embroidery magazine, a crossword book and some peppermint Aero bars. Oh how I miss peppermint Aero bars.

This weekend we're heading down to DrH's mother's belated 70th birthday celebration, the weekend after that I'm in Munich on a course, the weekend after that is a three day Bulli festival in Brandenburg and the weekend after THAT is a three day rock festival near Erfurt where I shall be trying to distract DrH from the big 4-0.

I'm a little worried we'll come back from the festival with a convertible and 23-year old blonde in tow. You know how these big birthdays seem to affect folk.

the night itself

A few snaps of the exhibition night, when I was still reasonably together and before we ended up at Barbie Deinhoff's experiencing performance art of the swine flu and discussing tasselled pasties with drag kings.

barbed, rosy mummy stumpwork

Now I know all three of you are just aching to see the results of my many stitching hours for Friday's exhibition opening. So (as you've seen the first already) I figured that today I'd give you the next stumpwork embroidery piece.

Behold: a kitschy tattoo classic rendered in thread and wire.

everything, all at once

Things have gotten a tad hectic in this neck of the woods.

In news so horrible it's bordering on ridiculous, there is now the fourth cancer case in my extended family in the last five months and I'm relaying information here, there and everywhere. Luckily this one, as two of the three before it, seems to have been caught in time, treated appropriately and individuals involved are recovering well.

DrH's mum has had a shoulder operation and he's spending this week down in his hometown helping her with the day-to-day of life and trying to spend as much time working on the car. Which really needs it, let's be honest. Holes I can stick my finger through have appeared in the body and if the engine compartment continues rusting the way it is, we'll be leaving the entire motor behind us on the road one day soon.

Ahh classic cars. We love 'em, we hate 'em and we sink time and money into them. Just like dogs, actually, whom I'm missing greatly as he's down with DrH as well.

Me? Well I started full time work this week. The freelance position has morphed into a contract position and will be full time for at leat the next few months. Interestingly I'm doing more of an IT development-type project at the moment, which is new and fun and frustrating and leaves me with a screaming headache at the end of the day. Exponential learning curve. Gosh, I'm glad I'm still doing new and different stuff but, gosh, can it be a challenge.

Did you notice that? I wrote GOSH. Twice, even. This is me trying not to swear as there are so many kids around me these days I'm finding my normal statements of Holy Fucking Shit This Bastard Fucking Headache Is Splitting My Fucking Head Fucking Open are considered slightly inappropriate.

Gosh, who would have thought it?

I also have my first solo exhibition this Friday. Now I SAY solo exhibition because it makes me sound cool and arty and important, but it's really just a couple of embroidery pieces hanging on a shop wall. However it's the closest thing to creativity I've ever done so I'm damn well going to call it a solo fucking exhibition.

Of course there won't actually be any fucking taking place AT the exhibition. Well, not now that my plans for the interpretive dance presentation fell through.

But regardless of the absence of carnal adventures, if anyone would like to come along it's this Friday, 8th May at Linkle, Wrangelstr. 80 in Kreuzberg. I shall supply the embroidery and a few drinks, but it's BYO on the interpretive dance.

And the fucking.

Gosh.

why, what's the first thing you think about of a morning?

DrH has been sick all week, with slightly more than the normal man-cold, and so has been home and sleeping a lot. This has lead to the rare event where I'm up before him of a morning. Neither of us really know what to do with each other of a morning on a weekday because normally we don't see each other - I get up as he closes the front door and generally I don't want to have to actively speak to anyone for at least an hour.

So this week has led to some unusual interactions when he makes it out of bed after I've managed to actually wake up. Such as:

"Good morning, my love." *hack, hack, cough, flem, groan*

"Can't talk. Must google why Eskimo's don't get scurvy."

that stitching thing

I haven't really talked much about embroidery here, but I think I might now because it's starting to get all serious-like. I'm offering courses, selling patterns and in a few weeks will be having a small showing in Kreuzberg of some of the more advanced embroidery stuff I'm doing.

I was thinking of 1970's porn done in Or nué goldwork, but didn't think I'd get that finished in time. Instead I'm doing a series of stumpwork pieces inspired by classic tattoos. In case you haven't heard of it (and let's face it, only the terminally uncool like myself have) stumpwork is a 17th century English embroidery technique which creates three dimensional stitched figures. It's one of my favourites.

The first I already have finished, so here you are: A Flaming Heart, rendered in thread.

board games

Almost a year ago I announced to you all that we had gotten rid of our TV. While I'd love to say we were TV-free for a year it's not entirely the case. We had the TV thrown back at us just before the Olympics, so I kept it for that, and then we had housesitters through September, so we left it here for them. We only got rid of it again in October and by December I was in Australia and held fast by horrible summer programming.

Now I'm back, we have no TV and life is settling in again. Board games have become a main staple of our life and ove the last year I've purchased quite a number. We got PermanentHoliDave so addicted to Zug um Zug (Ticket to Ride in English, though with the European board of course) that he hunted it down back in Australia and tried to convert everyone. He and I spent an entire day playing game after game and the tragic outcome was that he won more times than I did.

Here, playing against DrH, I can be assured of winning at least seven times out of ten. Siedler of Catan, Carcassonne, Metro, Alhambra... I am the board game QUEEN in my house. DrH wins enough that he is willing to keep playing, but generally I am the victor. Until this week when I bought Thurn and Taxis.

In building mail routes across 19th century German States, it seems that DrH has found his calling. He's gotten this one, worked out the strategies and when so armed he's...well, he's kicking my arse.

So tonight I think I'll pull out Carcasonne again and this time I WILL be using those attacking towers.